It is very common for a person to have their driver’s license suspended as a result of being arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI), driving under the influence (DUI) or for other drug related criminal charges. If your license is suspended, likely you will still need to drive. For this reason, the Texas Transportation Code enables a person to get a driver’s license for limited occupational purposes despite the driver’s license suspension. This special temporary and limited license is called an occupational driver’s license in San Antonio Texas and surrounding counties.
The occupational driver’s license will enable a person to legally drive only to go to work or to fulfill other essential needs. If a person is caught driving while a license is suspended in Texas, the person risks getting charged with Driving While License is Invalid, which is a class A misdemeanor. A person can face up to a year in jail for a class A misdemeanor in San Antonio Texas. It is therefore best to obtain this aforementioned occupational driver’s license if your license was suspended due to the DWI, DUI or other drug offense. You likely will need to hire an attorney to get your occupational license.
The Attorney will file a petition for occupational driver’s license, and will hold a short hearing before a judge to attempt to get your occupational driver’s license granted. If the Judge signs off on the document, the person will legally be able to drive for 30 days with the certified signed copy. Then, the occupational license can become a working way to drive until the original license is reinstated, once DPS receives the necessary documents and reinstatement fees. The estimated cost of this process to the applicant of the occupational license can range anywhere from $850 to $1200 in San Antonio, Texas.
It is important to know that you will not be successful in obtaining this occupational license if you do not get what is called SR-22 insurance coverage during the period that you will have this temporary/occupational license. Your Attorney will provide you with a contact for obtaining this SR-22. After you hire your attorney, you should be able to pick up a certified copy of your occupational license by the end of the week. However, the process will not be entirely complete until all documents are sent to DPS. While the process may be overwhelming, you will have an attorney to do the majority of the work. Remember, you really should hire a criminal defense Attorney for this process as likely they will be the most familiar with it.